DEPRESSING INACTIVITY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue LXXXIV, 23 September 1912, Page 2

DEPRESSING INACTIVITY

WHAT WILL BE THE NEXT MOVE? (Bt teLegbaph— Special to the post.) WAIHI, 23rd September. The intense excitement consequent upon the departure of the last batch of strikers committed to prison' in default •ot finding sureties of the peace, and the somewhat meteoric visit of the federation organiser, have been succeeded in the meantime by a depressing state of inactivity. The familiar picture of an engine-driver doing His shopping in town attended by a silent retinue closely dogging his footsteps has faded away, together with the long Bitting of the Magistrate's Court, and now the people I are anxiously enquiring as to what is likely to, be the next move and who is going to make it. Those are well acquainted with the circumstances of the strike _ know perfectly well that the only solution in the matter of _ bringing it to a speedy conclusion lies in the ability of the mineowners to commence active operations, even if only on a small scale, Once this has been accomplished the strike and its propaganda ceases to exist. The coming week, however, Bhould supply some indication as to the next move on the industrial chess-board and what result is likely to ensue 1 , and it is well within the bounds of possibility that the following week will herald in the grand finale of what must go down to posterity as the great Waihi strike of 1912. In the meantime the Waihi Company is pushing ahead its Horahora power scheme, which should prove a great factor in the future success of this mining field and give a new lease of life to a once prosperous and go-ahead town. That the strike _ was inevitable is admitted by a majority of the residents, but very few anticipated that it would result in such a prolonged and bitter struggle. On Saturday a member of the Engine- i drivers' Union found pinned to his front ! gate a sheet of brown paper with the words: "Don't be a traitor to your I class ! " He immediately credited it to the account of one of the women enthusiasts who havp been so prominent lately in strike affairs, but added that he had no intention of proving a traitor to his class and had at no time intended to sever his connection with his class organisation. Owing to to-day being a bank holiday, strike pay will not be dispensed till Tuesday.